Loyalty In Politics: A Key Weapon For Survival

By now the NDC noise makers who were always on the neck of President Akufo-Addo for appointing his family and friends to key positions in his government should re-think. Judas was one of the disciples of Jesus Christ but when he became disloyal and betrayed the Lord because of thirty pieces of silver, he later hanged himself. And hanging one's self is the most disgraceful way of dying.

In the happy old days gone by, soldiers who were to go to war were made to swear an oath of allegiance to the kingdom before they go to war. In some cases, the soldiers were made to drink human blood as a covenant between them and the kingdom. Loyalty was priceless and not negotiable. Anyone who betrayed the loyalty was termed as a criminal. During the election of a Speaker of Parliament, I did not need to wait for the Clerk of Parliament to announce the winner because I knew the die was already cast. I had the belief that some NPP Parliamentarians had compromised, and honour, dignity and loyalty were thrown to the dogs.

Looking at the faces of the dejected, disappointed and highly embarrassed MPs of the NPP, I could not help but shout aloud, “shame unto you”. So with all the academic prowess, experience, “big English” and campaign rhetoric, the NPP Parliamentarians could not read between the lines?

When a parliamentary candidate spent huge sums of money and resources to pass through the primaries and spent twice or more of that lot to emerge the winner as a parliamentarian, you need to watch his behaviour very well. One billion old cedis can sway him like the way a monkey acts when you dangle banana before it. In fact, I must confess that not everybody will act so, but a fickle minded person can easily fall prey like the two dishonourable NPP Parliamentarians.

Hon. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu should have foreseen that. The NPP Parliamentarians could not have betrayed the cause for nothing. They were bribed. Simplicita! The dog has four legs but when it loses one leg, it changes its way of walking and adapts to it. The time has come for the NPP to change strategy. Trust should be deleted from the lexicon of the NPP. As for me, from what I witnessed during the voting to elect a Speaker of Parliament, I do not know whom to trust. Those who received bribe to betray the party are still walking with the title “Honourable” tag pinned on their chest, but they know they are not honourable men or women. In fact, they will forever live with disturbed conscience. That is the harshest punishment for a betrayer.

In this modern era of computer technology, it is very easy to detect a lair. The NPP top hierarchy should use lie detectors to subject all the 137 MPs to a vigorous debriefing and interrogation. After all, they are where they are because of the party. If there is the need to bring experts from abroad, so be it. This case should not be allowed to die a natural death because it borders on the survival of the party. During the electioneering campaign, some supporters died, others were maimed and others also invested so much in cash and in kind. The toils of these people should not be in vain. If the worse comes to the worst, chemical interrogation should be applied to unlock the jigsaw.

Blessing In Disguise

I am a lone ranger out there in the wilderness shouting: “Oh ye supporters of the NPP, shout Alleluia and thank the Lord of Israel for small mercies.” If the party had lost the presidency, where would you be and how will you be by now? In the Holy Book, Job passed through fire and hell to become great again. The wise man makes the best out of any worst situation.

The situation as the number stands now in Parliament is to me very good for good governance and the ruling government for that matter. It stands to reason that when the Executive sends a bill to Parliament, it will go through vigorous scrutiny before they are passed. It will not be a situation like the Agyapa deal where Parliament passed the bill only for the minority MPs to go to town and shout “Corruption”. We are not going to get a Parliament of “yee yee”. In every situation, monopoly is not good and does not bring the best out of any situation.

The President should count himself lucky for going to work with a split Parliament. What is going to happen is that if a bill is tabled in Parliament and the NDC Parliamentarians decide to sabotage it by walking out, which used to be their trademark, Ghanaians will know that they are nation-wreckers.

When the President had some of his friends and family members in his last government, the NDC never went to sleep and shouted from the rooftop as if it was a taboo. Anyway, the word, “family and friends”, was the brainchild of the current Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin. He was forced to use the words on JM when he was denied entry to the Flagstaff on several occasions when JM was in power.

If NPP Parliamentarians could betray their own party, what will you think if such a person is appointed as the minister of finance or defense? If such a person is allowed to go near the President, he could poison him. The Akans say “suro nipa” (fear human being). These were MPs from the NPP side who rode on the wings of flagship programmes introduced by President Akufo-Addo to power. They were quick to boast of free SHS, one village, one dam, planting for food and jobs among others, but when they got the nod they went to Parliament to collect bribe and jettisoned and bite the hand that fed them. Very sad indeed!

Those who will also benefit from this Eighth Parliament are the newly sworn in MPs. I can foresee them passing through the mill and later toughened to play meaningful roles during the Ninth Parliament if they happen to be elected again by their constituents. All said and done, Ghanaians as a whole, should be grateful to Almighty God for bringing us this far. If the scale had tilted and JM won the presidency, the worse would have happened. The looting of state coffers would have quadrupled and Ghanaians would have been the losers.

The man and his gang of looters would have spent two years to recoup the huge sums that they used to execute their election agenda before thinking about the development of the nation. But will JM come again? Yes indeed, he will come again to see his last “smoothness level”. JM sent the case to the Supreme Court not for a re-run of the election, but to send a message to NDC delegates that “When I lost in 2020 I also took the matter to the Supreme Court like the way Nana Akufo-Addo did in 2016. Give me one more chance like the NPP gave Nana Akufo-Addo one more chance.” If this is what he is thinking about, as I know he is, it will be fantasy and daydreaming, if not absurd.

Uh, my pen cannot write again! See you next week and excuse me while I refill my fountain pen with ink. Full stop!!!

By Eric Bawah